How To: Successful Real Time Marketing

You know the feeling you get when you end up at the right place at the right time? In the digital world, the equivalent is real time marketing (RTM). It’s when you Tweet, post, or blog about the right thing — at the right time — and can sit back and watch your social engagement rates soar. Admittedly, this is much easier said than done, and there are a ton of ways to mess it up that can make someone look like a fool. Luckily, there are some tips and tricks to stay on the positive and effective side of RTM. So stay tuned, because we’ve got some pointers on creating your first or next viral RTM campaign:

1. Keep Content Relevant to Your Industry:

This tip can’t be stressed enough. In the world of social media, business owners and companies can’t just jump on any and every trending topic and exploit it just because it’s getting lots of attention. Simply put, doing so is not only cheesy and annoying, but it can also harm your public image. People can see through such tactics, thereby creating an adverse effect on what you’re trying to do– build a respectable business! For example, it would (likely) make zero sense for a law firm to weigh in on the Beyonce Jay Z elevator drama on social media…unless there was something legal to learn from it. If not, posting about such drama would be completely irrelevant to the company and will only solicit endless eye rolls. Unfortunately, many brands have attempted and fallen victim to this RTM tactic, thinking that joining an irrelevant, yet trending conversations will help increase their social engagement. In fact, attempting this tactic is the number one pitfall of real time marketing.

So, What Does Relevant Real Time Marketing Look Like?

Kit Kat took advantage of all the internet buzz going around when iPhone 6 was first released…and breaking. Many people tweeted about their phones breaking and it became newsworthy.

Though apple’s manufacturing errors are seemingly irrelevant to a candy bar, Kit Kat successfully tied the incident into their product and provided value in the form of this witty tweet: “We don’t bend, we #break. #bendgate #iPhone6plus.”

2. Provide Value in Your Posts

Trending hashtags are a great way to connect with a greater audience. If you’re going to use a trending hashtag, make sure you are providing value with a relevant post that’s either witty or insightful or accompanied by a cool image…something!

Quick tip: humor works really well for RTM, because it humanizes your brand and is often shared.

Internet memes were at an all time high when rappers Drake and Meek Mill got into a rap feud (a.k.a “rap beef”). Whataburger, a fast food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers, took advantage of the feud’s buzz and tweeted this gem: “Meek Mill take it from us- if you gonna serve beef serve it high quality.” With 109,681 retweets and 80,722 favorites, Whataburger’s beefy tweet was a huge success, proving that witty works. It’s also important to understand your audience and what works for them. For instance, if your target market is millenials, then a successful “tweeting recipe” of wit and relevance usually equates to retweets. Be funny, clever, and creative, all while staying true to your brand.

3. Provide Customer Service

Real time responses to customer concerns are super important as well! If a customer tweets at your brand or comments on your Facebook page, they expect a speedy response. In the eyes of consumers, providing a speedy, concerned, and humble response can help build a company’s credibility and brand trust. Providing quality customer service is fairly simple to do, but so many brands drop the ball here. Keep in mind that social media engagement and customer service are linked. In fact, Twitter is considered the new customer service platform, which means if you are trying to build your Twitter following, you must be accessible at all times. People want things instantaneously. It’s time to deliver and rise above your competition.

More Tips from Smarter Searches

RTM can either be amazing or painfully bad, and there are seldom cases of it being in-between. Assess trends as they come, and see if they align with your brand. Be selective, creative, and timely. Eventually, your selective, relevant, and customer service oriented posts will pay off in terms of engagement rates. For more tips on digital marketing and RTM, follow us on Twitter @smartersearches. [/column]

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December 2, 2016

[…] if certain content will be more powerful it it’s published at a certain time — something called real-time marketing. In addition, the more you share, the more likely you’ll receive backlinks from other relevant […]